[UPDATED: See below.] Chris Matthews on Thursday took a break from comparing conservatives to Nazis and instead compared them to movie Nazis. The Hardball anchor opened the program by referencing the classic movie Casablanca. In this example, Barack Obama is the good guy and the Second Amendment supporters are the Nazis.

Matthews spewed, "You know that scene in Casablanca when the French police captain shoots the Nazi, Major Strasser, and Humphrey Bogart does the right thing by Ingrid Bergman, and the anti-Nazi hero Victor Laszlo says 'Welcome back to the fight, Rick'?" In case anyone was unclear on the comparison, the liberal journalist added, "Well, I felt that way today watching President Obama get back to the front in the historic battle for gun safety." [See video below. MP3 audio here.]

Matthews cheered, "So I say it loudly and proudly, welcome back to the fight, Mr. President."

Last Friday, the host linked George W. Bush's "aggressive" Iraq war to the Nazis on trial at Nuremberg.

Matthews has previously ranted about conservative "birth control Nazis" and compared unhappy Republicans to Hitler.

CHRIS MATTHEWS: Let me start tonight with this: You know that scene in Casablanca when the French police captain shoots the Nazi, Major Strasser, and Humphrey Bogart does the right thing by Ingrid Bergman, and the anti-Nazi hero Victor Laszlo says "Welcome back to the fight, Rick." Well, I felt that way today watching President Obama get back to the front in the historic battle for gun safety. Not Biden, not Bloomberg but the twice elected leader of this country out there leading the charge for America to do the right thing, to measure up morally to the horror of Newtown, Connecticut. So I say it loudly and proudly, welcome back to the fight, Mr. President.